Antisemitism in the UK Conservative Party
Wikipedia:Template:Antisemitism Social Wikipedia:Antisemitism is alleged to have existed within the Conservative party since its founding in 1834, when the party rose out of the previous Wikipedia:Tory Party. The party is officially titled the Conservative and Unionist Party, while its members are still colloquially called Tories. This article details the various alleged antisemitism events in relation to each of the successive Conservative party leaders in office at the time. Peel leadership (1834–1846) Parliamentary level Hostility to Jewish emancipation In 1830, Wikipedia:Robert Peel spoke in Parliament in opposition of the emancipation of the Jews. During this time, a Jew could not open a shop within the Wikipedia:city of London, become a Wikipedia:barrister, graduate from Wikipedia:university, or be a member of Parliament. Peel commented: The Jew is not a degraded subject of the state; he is rather regarded in the light of an alien - he is excluded because he will not amalgamate with us in any of his usages or habits - he is regarded as a foreigner. In the history of the Jews ... we find enough to account for the prejudice which exists against them.Wikipedia:Harold Bloom, Charles Dickens (New York: Wikipedia:Chelsea House, 2013) Disraeli's early political career After Wikipedia:Benjamin Disraeli (a Jewish convert to Wikipedia:Anglicanism) became an elected MP in 1837, a number of his Conservative colleagues avoided him because of their Wikipedia:antisemitism.Dick Leonard, The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli (London: I. B. Tauris, 2013) The Conservative Party at this time was more institutionally antisemitic than the other main parties; however, the abuse Disraeli received was exceptional due to his perception "as a humbug, a fraud, and a cheat. And at the center of it all was his Jewishness."Davis, R. (1996). Disraeli, the Rothschilds, and Anti-Semitism. Jewish History, 10(2), 9-19. Disraeli was excluded from ministerial office in Peel's government, in part because of "anti-Semitism and both patrician snobbery and bourgeois bigotry" within the party.Conrad Black, Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada From the Vikings to the Present (McClelland & Stewart, 2014) Smith-Stanley leadership (1846–1868) Parliamentary level Hostility towards Jewish entrance to parliament Prior to 1858, Jews were not allowed to become Members of Parliament (MPs) unless they were Christian, as was Wikipedia:Benjamin Disraeli, who was baptised as a child.T. Buenos, 'UK vote: The anti-Semitism that could have been' (19/05/15) on Wikipedia:The Jerusalem Post In 1847, the Whig leader Wikipedia:Lord John Russell introduced a bill that enabled Jews to become members of Parliament. The Jews Relief Act was passed a decade later, in 1858, 'after years of obstruction, mainly but not exclusively, at the hands of the Tory party'.R. Philpot, '150 years ago, the UK’s first and only Jewish leader changed politics forever (22/02/18) on Wikipedia:The Times of Israel Opposition to the Act would sometimes be accompanied by 'extravagant praise' of Jews. Conservative opposition to the Act included: * Conservative MP Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (Lord Salisbury) opposed Jewish inclusion in Parliament because, he said, a Jew, due to his religious convictions, would be opposed to 'all ... (present MPs) were there to uphold', and would take a 'hostile' position towards Parliament. * Wikipedia:George Bankes 'expressed his horror at the possibility of seeing a Jew Premier in Parliament'. * Wikipedia:John Pemberton Plumptre 'intended no insult to the Jews in asserting that they were unfit to legislate or interfere in the affairs of a Christian nation'. *Thomas Dyke Acland and Charles Law warned that every Jew in Parliament would 'displace a Christian' and accused the Jews of the City of London of conspiring to get John Russell elected and, therefore, having John Russell under their control. * Wikipedia:Alexander Beresford Hope opposed the bill 'on the ground that there was no pre-eminence or super-excellence in the Jewish race which would justify the house in relaxing' the rules about admittance. * Wikipedia:Charles Newdigate Newdegate claimed that 'the wealth of one distinguished Jew had been liberally lavished to obtain petitions in favour of the Bill' and that behind the calls for Jewish Emancipation was a 'Talmudic conspiracy ... to destroy the free constitution and religion of Protestant Englishmen'.K. Theodore Hoppen, The Mid-Victorian Generation: 1846-1886. (OUP, 1998) * Alexander Baillie-Cochrane saw the 'apathy with which this Bill had been received in the country as no source of congratulation, but as a very terrible sign of the corruption of the times'. * Philip Stanhope was of the opinion that 'Jewish emancipation would lower the tone of religious opinion in England'. * Wikipedia:Spencer Horatio Walpole said that the Jews were of a 'separate creed and interest' and were 'not a citizen of this country, but of the world'. * Archibald Douglas said that Jews 'were unfortunately actuated by a love of money, which was highly discreditable'. * Robert Inglis argued that Jews were 'a separate nation with a separate creed'. * Wikipedia:Henry Ker Seymer, Richard Spooner, Frederic Thesiger, Wikipedia:Alexander Raphael, Francis Scott, Wikipedia:Henry Goulburn, Joseph Napier,Charles Egan, The status of the Jews in England (London: 1848) Cropley Ashley-Cooper (Lord Ashley), and Wikipedia:Henry Home-Drummond, also opposed the bill and the inclusion of Jews. Overall, the Conservatives were against the Jews and had, according to George Bentinck, 'degenerated into a No Popery, No Jew Party' driven by bigotry. The Conservative party deposed Bentinck as Conservative leader because of his positive stance on Jewish emancipation. However, Bentinck himself also 'entertained hostile feelings towards the Jews', saying, 'as for the Jews themselves, I don't care two strokes about them and heartily wish they were all back in the Holy Land'. Disraeli leadership (1868–1881) Parliamentary level Antisemitic hostility towards Disraeli Wikipedia:Benjamin Disraeli suffered prejudice from some Conservatives throughout his political career. Disraeli himself commented on the 'great anomaly' of being the Conservative 'chief' given the 'prejudices' held from within the party against his 'origin'. Disraeli was described by one Conservatives as 'that hellish Jew', and by some others simply as 'the Jew'. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (Lord Salisbury), described him publicly as 'dishonest' and a 'mere political gamester'. Edward Smith-Stanley (Earl of Derby) excoriated Disraeli for holding beliefs he considered un-English.Wikipedia:David Cesarani, Disraeli: The Novel Politician (Yale University Press, 2016). p. 167 Another Conservative said of him, 'he bears the mark of the Jew strongly about him ... He is evidently clever but superlatively vulgar'. 'Disraeli's position Jewish emancipation was deeply unpopular in his own party'. 'The underlying current of antisemitism which coursed through sections of the Conservative party until well into the 20th century found an outlet in the persona of its long-serving leader'. Disraeli's antisemitism According to Wikipedia:Jonathan Freedland, 'Disraeli clearly internalised the anti-Jewish sentiment in which his society was drenched'. This can be seen in Disraeli's novels, which contain antisemitic stereotypesJ. Freedland, 'Disraeli by David Cesarani review – the Jewish prime minister and antisemitism' (11/06/16) on Wikipedia:The Guardian - he made a 'fundamental contribution ... to modern literary antisemitism'.M. Dysch, 'Disraeli the cad, Disraeli the bounder (28/12/17) on Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle According to Wikipedia:Hannah Arendt and historian Wikipedia:David Cesarani, 'Disraeli almost single-handedly invented the lexicon of modern racial anti-Semitism'. Cesarani adds: Disraeli 'played a formative part in the construction of anti-Semitic discourse'. Salisbury leadership (1885–1902) UK organised antisemitism Organised antisemitism in the United Kingdom can be traced to the proto-fascistSam Johnson, '"Trouble Is Yet Coming!" The British Brothers League, Immigration, and Anti-Jewish Sentiment in London's East End, 1901-1903' in Robert Nemes and Daniel Unowsky (eds), Sites of European Antisemitism in the Age of Mass Politics, 1880-1918 (Brandeis University Press, 2014) Wikipedia:paramilitaryRobert Benewick, The Fascist Movement in Britain (Allen Lane, 1972) group, the Wikipedia:British Brothers League (BBL),Wikipedia:David Osler, 'The antisemitic traditions of the Tory Party' (04/08/14) on Wikipedia:Left Foot Forward which was founded in 1901 by members of the Conservative Party,D. Renton, Fascism, Anti-Fascism and Britain in the 1940s (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000)D. Glover, Literature, Immigration, and Diaspora in Fin-de-Siècle England: A Cultural History of the 1905 Aliens Act (CUP, 2012) including MPs Wikipedia:Howard Vincent and Wikipedia:William Evans-Gordon, and drew its membership from sections of the Conservative Party. The BBL, the 'largest and best organised of all the anti-alien groups' of its time was 'Conservative-led and ... Conservative-dominated'. It sought to pressure the government into stopping the arrival of poor Jews into Britain.Wikipedia:William I. Brustein, Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust (CUP, 2003) It was successful in that its pressure was instrumental in persuading parliament to pass the 1905 Aliens Act. William Evans-Gordon was elected to parliament in 1900 on an anti-alien platformWikipedia:Geoffrey Alderman, Modern British Jewry (OUP, 1998) and began campaigning for changes to the government's immigration policies in his first year of office.Lara Trubowitz, Civil Antisemitism, Modernism, and British Culture, 1902–1939 (New York: Wikipedia:Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) Within their parliamentary work, Evans-Gordon and other Conservative MPs obscured their antisemitism within advocacy for what might have been considered a reasonable immigration policy. Within their discourse, 'immigrant' and 'alien' often meant 'Jew'.D. J. Packer, Britain and Rescue: Government Policy and Jewish Refugees 1942-1943 (2017). Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University With four Conservative MPs in support at its inaugural meeting, the BBL was founded on 9 May 1901. The next month, Walter Murry Guthrie called a meeting of east London Wikipedia:Conservative Associations and out of this initiative another group was formed with the aim of pressuring the government to restrict immigration: the Londoners' League. The Londoners' League worked with the BBL at a lower tierJohn Solomos, Race and Racism in Britain 2nd edn (London: Macmillan, 1993) and had a number of Conservative MPs and councillors as speakers, including Evans-Gordon, Wikipedia:Samuel Ridley, Wikipedia:Harry Samuel, Wikipedia:Thomas Herbert Robertson, Wikipedia:David John Morgan and Wikipedia:Arnold White. The BBL stirred up popular racism against Jewish immigrants who had moved to the city to find refuge because they had been displaced by Wikipedia:pogroms in their home countries.G. Craig and K. Atkin, Understanding 'race' and Ethnicity: Theory, History, Policy, Practice (Bristol: Wikipedia:Polity Press, 2012) On the tier above the BBL was the Parliamentary Alien Immigration Committee. The Committee was founded in August 1901 and comprised all the East End MPs (except the Liberal Party MP for Whitechapel, Stuart M. Samuel). Based on the same ideas as those of the BBL, Evans-Gordon formed the Committee to work within parliament.J. A. Cloake and M. R. Tudor, Multicultural Britain (OUP, 2001) As a parliamentary pressure group, it urged the government to pass restrictive immigration controls. Balfour leadership (1902–1911) Parliamentary level Progress towards the Aliens Act 1905 In 1902, Evans-Gordon was instrumental in setting up a Royal Commission on Alien Immigration, of which he was the chairNick Toczek, Haters, Baiters and Would-Be Dictators: Anti-Semitism and the UK Far Right (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016) and a 'key member', submitting reports to the Commission. The Royal Commission was a 'Parliamentary platform against Jewish migrants'D. Glover, 'Imperial Zion: Israel Zangwill and the English Origins of Territorialism' in E. Bar-Yosef and N. Valman (eds), The Jew' in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Culture: Between the East End and East Africa'' (Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and concerned itself almost entirely with Jews.Harold Pollins, 'The Jew' on History Today (originally published in Wikipedia:History Today Volume 35 Issue 7 July 1985) Sympathies for the BBL 'stretched into the secretaryship of the Royal Commission on Alien Immigration'. In February 1903, the antisemiticRichard Thurlow, Fascism in Britain: A History, 1918-1985 (Basil Blackwell, 1987) p. 108Tom Villis, Reaction and the Avant-Garde: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy in Early Twentieth-Century Britain (London: Taurus Academic Studies, 2006)David Baker, 'The Extreme Right in the 1920s: Fascism in a cold Climate, or 'Conservatism with Knobs on'?' in Mike Cronin (ed.), The Failure of British Fascism: The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1996) Immigration Reform Association (IRA) was established, with Richard Hely-Hutchinson (Earl of Donoughmore) as president - a 'respectable' group within the anti-alien network; and MPs who had been involved with the BBL continued their work through the Association, which played a prominent role in putting pressure on the government to pass restrictive immigration controls. Working with Harry F. Smith, a Conservative Party agent, the IRA organised a major demonstration in November 1903, with the BBL providing a procession. In 1903, Evans-Gordon wrote The Alien Immigrant''Colin Holmes, ''Anti-Semitism in British Society, 1876-1939 (London: Wikipedia:Routledge, 2016) (which was an expansion of the reports he had made to the Royal Commission) with the aim of influencing public opinion on immigration. In this, he addressed the so-called "Wikipedia:Jewish question", asserting that 'the settlement of large aggregations of Hebrews in a Christian land has never been successful',D. Feldman, 'The Importance of Being English: Jewish immigration and the decay of liberal England' in D. Feldman and G. Stedman Jones, Metropolis: London: Histories and Representations since 1800 (London: Wikipedia:Routledge, 2016) and that the 'Hebrew colony ... unlike any other alien colony in Britain, forms a solid and permanently distinct block — a race apart, as it were, in an enduring island of extraneous thought and custom', to the extent that 'east of Wikipedia:Aldgate one walks into a foreign town'.B. Korte, 'Facing the East of Europe in Its Wester Isles: Charting Backgrounds, Questions and Perspectives' in B. Korte, E. Ulrike Pirker, S. Helff (eds), Facing the East in the West: Images of Eastern Europe in British Literature, Film and Culture (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010) The Royal Commission on Alien Immigration reported its findings in August 1903, which would inform the Aliens Act of 1905,Colin Holmes, 'British Brothers League' in Wikipedia:Richard S. Levy (ed.), Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution Volume 1: A-K (Santa Barbara: Wikipedia:ABC-CLIO, 2005) recommending strong, restrictive laws against alien entry into Britain.Virginia Herzog Hein, The British Followers of Theodor Herzl: English Zionist Leaders, 1896-1904 (Garland, 1987) In 1904, the Conservative Home Secretary Aretas Akers-Douglas brought a bill to parliament that would 'make provision with respect to the Immigration of Aliens, and other matters incidental thereto'.G. F. Abbott, Israel in Europe (London: Macmillan, 1907) Within the bill, 'alien' was 'an implicit reference to "the Jew"'. Evans-Gordon was a primary author of the 1904 immigration bill. In 1905, the revised bill passed into law. Evans-Gordon's speeches were 'the primary catalyst for the final passage of the 1905 Act'. He became known as the "father of the Aliens Bill". The 1905 Alien Act, while not mentioning Jews outright, appealed to racial prejudice against the Jews and was designed to stop the arrival of Eastern European Jews into Britain. The BBL had succeeded: it largely was responsible, along with its supporting MPs, for the passing of the 1905 Alien's Act.Paul Ward, Britishness Since 1870 (London: Routledge, 2004) William Joynson-Hicks MP In a 1908 Wikipedia:by-election, standing against Wikipedia:Winston Churchill (a Liberal at the time), the Conservative candidate, William Joynson-Hicks, was elected to Parliament as MP for Manchester North West.David Cesarani, 'The Anti-Jewish Career of Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Cabinet Minister' in Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 24, No. 3 (Jul. 1989) During his election campaign he took a stance against the Jews, which continued throughout his political career, announcing that 'he was not going to pander for the Jewish vote. He would treat those who were Englishmen as Englishmen, but as to those who put their Jewish or foreign nationality before their English nationality, let them vote for Mr Churchill'. He threw aspersions on his opponent, publicly saying Churchill's supporters were 'bogus deputations going to him from a few Jews who were not even on the register'. Over time, Joynson-Hicks because 'embedded at the heart of the Toryism'. Bonar Law leadership (1911–1921) Parliamentary level National League for Clean Government The Wikipedia:National League for Clean Government was a political reform movement, created partly in response to the Wikipedia:Marconi scandal, that directed antisemitism towards the Jewish plutocracy, which it believed was conspiring to subvert British politics.Jay P. Corrin, Catholic Intellectuals and the Challenge of Democracy (University of Notre Dame Pess, 2002) A number of its members and supporters were antisemites, including Conservative MP Wikipedia:Rowland Hunt. At a meeting of the group in 1913, Hunt spoke about the 'influence' which controlled Britain and, in a 'thinly disguised reference to Jewish financiers', said, "We are really in danger of being ruled by alien votes and foreign gold. ... The aliens and foreign plutocrats are driving out British blood". The cartoonist David Low commented on the meeting that the audience was left with the feeling of antisemitism. Antisemitism during World War I During World War I, Joynson-Hicks associated with the ultra-nationalistic Wikipedia:British Empire Union (formerly called the Anti-German Union). In a 'strongly anti-semitic' campaign, in which Jewishness and German origin were conflated, the Union demanded the Wikipedia:internment and Wikipedia:repatriation of "enemy aliens", many of whom were Jews. Joynson-Hicks and the Die Hards After World War I, Joynson-Hicks became an important member of the Die Hards, who were united 'by their national chauvinism, verging on xenophobia, and anti-Bolshevism', with some members (e.g., Henry Percy (Duke of Northumberland), George Clarke (Lord Sydenham), and the MPs Ronald McNeill, Charles Yate, Charles Taylor Foxcroft and Henry Page Croft) believing the conspiracy theory of a Jewish world effort to subvert Britain and its Empire. Jew baiting was known among them.Inbal Rose, Conservatism and Foreign Policy During the Lloyd George Coalition 1918-1922 (London: Frank Cass, 1999) Joynson-Hicks 'exemplified the Die Hard position', involving himself in matters in which Jews were concerned. For example, he was involved in the hunt for 'aliens', which led to many Russian Jews being expelled from Britain, and the Die Hard ousting of Wikipedia:Edwin Montagu, the Wikipedia:Secretary of State for India. Joynson-Hicks questioned the trustworthiness of Ango-Jewish MPs and civil servants. He spoke out against Wikipedia:Sir Herbert Samuel when he was appointed High Commissioner for Palestine. Joyson-Hicks also continued his involvement in extra-parliamentary antisemitic agitation. He was involved with groups composed of a 'comprehensive cross-section of anti-Jews': for example, George Clarke (Lord Sydenham), Wikipedia:G. K. Chesterton, Wikipedia:Nesta Webster, Wikipedia:Rosita Forbes and Wikipedia:Arnold White. Sir Charles Yate, George Clarke (Lord Sydenham), Henry Percy (Duke of Northumberland) and several other anti-Zionist MPs produced the publication The Conspiracy Against the British Empire, a 'boiled-down version' of Wikipedia:The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Joyson-Hicks was in favour of self-government by 'the majority in Palestine' and proposal of a resolution to that effect, which was perhaps a result of his antisemitism. At some point in his career, he commented that the Jewish immigrants to Palestine were 'the sweepings of the ghettos of Central Europe'. Macmillan and the "International Jew" Wikipedia:Harold Macmillan wrote to a friend during the 1919 Paris peace talks that the government of Prime Minister Lloyd George was not 'really popular, except with the International Jew'.C. C. Johnson, 'Thatcher and the Jews' (28/12/11) on Tablet A. Chamberlain leadership (1921–1922) Parliamentary level Chamberlain's and Joynson-Hicks' antisemitism Writing to his sister, Wikipedia:Austen Chamberlain described former Conservative Party leader and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli as an 'English patriot but not an Englishman'.Harry Defries, Conservative Party Attitudes to Jews 1900-1950 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2013) During Chamberlain's leadership, the Wikipedia:Jewish Chronicle (07/06/22) described Joynson-Hicks as 'the most avowed and determined anti-Semite in the House'.Geoffrey Alderman, Modern British Jewry (OUP, 1998) Bonar Law leadership (1922–1923) Parliamentary level Antisemitism towards Jewish 'aliens' In February 1923, Wikipedia:Charles Crook, Conservative MP for East Ham North, brought a motion to the House of Commons that it was 'the utmost importance that a strict control shall be maintained over alien immigration'. Crook wished to maintain the 'racial integrity of Britain' and was seconded by the Conservative MP for Manchester Hulme, Wikipedia:Joseph Nall, who particularly wanted to exclude the 'alien revolutionary agitator'. Crook and Nall were supported by Wikipedia:Herbert Nield, Conservative MP for Ealing, in whose opinion Wikipedia:Stepney had been 'positively ruined by the incursion of these aliens', evidenced by the presence of advertisements and notices in Wikipedia:Yiddish. Grassroots level Antisemitism towards Jewish MP During the 1922 general election, the sitting MP for Putney, the Conservative Wikipedia:Samuel Samuel, was opposed by an independent Conservative candidate, Prescott Decre. Samuel saw this opposition by Decre and his supporters as 'purely anti-Semitic'. Baldwin leadership (1923–1937) Parliamentary level Baldwin and Joynson-Hicks Wikipedia:Stanley Baldwin had strong ties to Joynson-Hicks, which can be seen throughout their political careers together - each vouched for the other in election campaigns; Joynson-Hicks was instrumental in the 'destruction of the coalition and the old Conservative leadership which opened the way to Wikipedia:Bonar Law and then Baldwin' and supported Baldwin in the passing of policy; they worked together in the Treasury; Baldwin promoted Joynson-Hicks to Home Secretary; and Joynson-Hicks stood by Baldwin in defeat. According to David Cesarani, Baldwin and Joynson-Hicks 'shared a discourse about England and Englishness' that included a definition of 'Englishness' based around 'a common language, heritage and racial character', and, on the other side of the coin, a dislike of other 'races', seen as 'less illustrious ..., other and 'alien'.' Baldwin became prime minister in 1923 and gave Joynson-Hicks a place in the Cabinet as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. This was 'noted by the Zionist press with anxiety'. In August 1923 he became Health Minister.'Joynson-Hicks, William' in A Dictionary of Political Biography (OUP) (accessed 19/01/19) There were also causes for concern for Anglo-Jewry in the way Baldwin's government came to power again in the 1924 general election. That election saw an 'exceptionally dirty campaign' (most notoriously known for the Wikipedia:Zinoviev letter, a forgery purportedly written by the Jewish head of the Wikipedia:Communist International in Moscow, published by the Wikipedia:Daily Mail to turn the electorate against the Labour party), and the Conservative campaign had a stream of anti-Jewish, anti-alienism underlying it. Now and at other times in this period, 'anti-Jewish feeling was mobilized under the guise of anti-alienism, anti-Zionism and anti-Bolshevism by mainstream political figures'. During the campaign, Baldwin and other Conservatives used the threat of aliens as one of their platforms. In their campaigning, the term 'aliens' was 'used as a code for Jews'.Martin Pugh, Hurrah For The Blackshirts!: Fascists and Fascism in Britain Between the Wars (London: Pimlico, 2006) In speeches like his Wikipedia:party political broadcast on 16 October, Baldwin gave the all clear to Joynson-Hicks and other extremists in the Conservative party who had been engaged in xenophobic campaigning for decades. He said, 'we cannot afford the luxury of academic socialists or revolutionary agitation ... I think its high time somebody said to Russia "Hands off England" ... I want to examine the laws and regulations as to entry of aliens into this country, for in these days no alien should be substituted for one of our own people when we have not enough work at home to go around'. Baldwin's allies could now exploit prejudices against foreigners, 'aliens' and 'agitators'. For Hoynson-Hicks, the concept of 'alien' and 'communist' blended, and throughout his political career his 'anti-alienism, his anti-Zionism, and his anti-communism all brought him into conflict with the Jews'. Home Secretary Joynson-Hicks After the Conservatives won the election, in November 1924, Baldwin made Joynson-Hicks Home Secretary (he was Home Secretary until 1929). Wikipedia:David Cesarani ascribes this 'sudden and unexpected' political ascent - which, 'in the view of many at the time and since, was undeserved in terms of talent' - to the ideological affinity between Baldwin and Hoynson-Hicks. Joynson-Hick's appointment worried the Jewish community, and not without reasons: his time as Home Secretary saw him in regular conflict with British Jews. Joynson-Hicks became known as 'Mussolini Minor'. His antisemitism caused him no harm during his time in office and he was emboldened in his antisemitism because he knew he had the general support of the Conservative party, 'the large majority of whom are anti-alien in the sense of generally disliking foreigners, and despising anyone who does not happen to have been born in this country with a long English lineage to boot'. More specifically, too, the Conservative party contained a 'very noisy and active element' of antisemites. 'Anti-Jewish currents were evident at the centre of politics, even present at the Cabinet table'. Writing to a friend shortly after the 1924 election, Wikipedia:Chaim Weizmann commented, 'There is a new government ... the Cabinet contains two or three reactionaries, anti-Zionists and even anti-semites'. Within the government ranks, there was no 'dissent against Joynson-Hicks's activity ... least of all from ... Baldwin'. Cesarani says Baldwin chose the right-winger Joynson-Hicks for his government because he considered him 'a desirable representative of elemental Toryism', a 'representative figure' who would 'enhance, rather than detract from, first, his electoral team, and second, his government'. Towards the start of his Home Secretary career Joynson-Hicks was visited by the right-wing organisation the Wikipedia:National Citizens Union. Joynson-Hicks told the group he would not allow a mass arrival of immigrants to Britain and that he would wouldn't hesitate to use his power to deport aliens. Under Joynson-Hicks, the Home Office became 'the bane of the Jewish community' and 'the situation of Jewish aliens had deteriorated seriously'. Jews who had not become British citizens were deported for Wikipedia:misdemeanors but, when they applied for citizenship, were met with long, unnecessary delays with kept them in the precarious position of alien. A group from the Wikipedia:Board of Deputies of British Jews visited Joynson-Hicks at the Home Office in February 1925 to ask for an improvement to the regulations concerning aliens, 'the establishment of immigration boards to judge cases of aliens forbidden to land by immigration officers, some modification of the Home Secretary's power of deportation an to end the delays in Wikipedia:naturalization. Joynson-Hicks dismissed their requests. In November 1925, during parliamentary debates about the renewal of the Aliens Act, Joynson-Hicks was confronted about his actions by Labour MP Wikipedia:John Scurr and Jewish Conservative MP Wikipedia:Samuel Finburgh. Scurr said that the Aliens Act was being used 'against one section of the community, and particularly against the poorer members of the Jewish community'. Samuel Finburgh highlighted that Jews who 'had been trying to get naturalized finding that every possible obstruction was placed in their way'. Joynson-Hicks responded by challenging Finburgh to give him a single example of when the Home Office had shown anti-Jewish bias, even though, Cesarani points out, Joynson-Hicks had entered and accepted a Home Office already discriminating against Jews in the applications for citizenship and, during his time in office, had received a memorandum on naturalization from Wikipedia:John Pedder, the Home Office Principle Assistant Secretary, who regularly processed complaints from the Jewish community about Home Office action. When asked by a Jewish journalist, Meir Grossman, about the 'impression that has gain ground' that Joynson-Hicks was 'in general antagonistic to the alien population' and, more particularly 'in the exercising of his discretion as Home Secretary', was 'discriminating against Jewish applicants' for citizenship, Joynson-Hicks replied that he was upset by the accusation of antisemitism, insisted that he was fair. However, his bias against the Jews was revealed when he went on to give the following example of the 'chief test' which he would apply before granting citizenship: The chief test ... is whether the applicant has, so far as can be judged, become an Englishman at heart and has completely identified himself with English interests. I will give you an example. If two brothers came to this country and one of them settles in a district where only aliens live, continues to speak his native language, marries a woman from his own country, sends his child to a school where only foreign children are kept, keeps his account in a foreign bank, employs only foreign labour, while the other marries and Englishwoman, sends his children to an English school, speaks English, employs British labour, keeps his accounts in a British bank, it is the second brother and not the first who will stand to obtain naturalization. The anti-alien legislation, as described and used by Joynson-Hicks in this way, was antisemitic.B. Cheyette, 'Jewish stereotyping and English literature, 1875-1920: Towards a political analysis' in T. Kushner and K. Lunn (eds), Traditions of Intolerance: Historical Perspectives on Fascism and Race Discourse in Britain (Manchester University Press, 1989) In the 1930s, the Conservative Home Secretary refused to meet a delegation from organisations combating antisemitism. Winston Churchill's conspiracy theories After the 1924 general election, Wikipedia:Winston Churchill joined the ranks of the Conservatives (previously, he had been a Liberal but ran as a Constitutionalist during the election). Churchill was a Wikipedia:Zionist and held both positive and antisemitic opinions of Jews;Tom Heyden, 'The 10 greatest controversies of Winston Churchill's career' (25/01/15) on BBC News however, even some of his positive views were based on antisemitic stereotypes. For example, Churchill commented: Some people like Jews and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are beyond question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world. In 1914 and 1920 Churchill had been accused of Jew bating. After World War I, Churchill believed communism to be under the control of "Wikipedia:international Jewry", which was "a world-wide conspiracy" dedicated to "the overthrow of civilization and the reconstruction of society". He expressed this in a 1920 Wikipedia:Illustrated Sunday Herald article entitled "Zionism versus Bolshevism: A struggle for the soul of the Jewish people", which pitted good, Zionist Jews against the evil of Jewish controlled Bolshevism. In the article he cited favourably Wikipedia:Nesta Helen Webster, the right-wing, antisemitic conspiracy theorist and was 'tainted heavily with imagery' from the antisemitic fabricated text Wikipedia:The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Jewish Chronicle castigated Churchill for the article. Churchill had also told Lloyd George that the Jews were 'the main instigators of the ruin of the Empire', that they had played 'a leading part in Bolshevik atrocities',Michael J. Cohen, Churchill and the Jews, 1900-1948 2nd edn (London: Routledge, 2013) that the presence of Jews in radical groups was due (in Lebzelter's summation of Churchill's view) 'to inherent inclinations rooted in Jewish character and religion', and that a government should not have 'too many' Jews in it.G. Lebzelter, Political Anti-Semitism in England 1918–1939 (Palgrave Macmillan, 1978) He said Britain need beware the 'international Soviet of the Russian and Polish Jew' and that he had found evidence of a 'very powerful' Jewish lobby in the country. His antisemitism was shared by his wife, Clementine, who wrote to him in 1931 that she could understand 'American Anti-Semitic prejudice'. It has been suggests that Churchill learned to keep his antisemitism quiet for political advantage. Involvement with Oswald Mosley Wikipedia:Oswald Mosley founded the Wikipedia:January Club, a social and dining club, in 1934 to attract Establishment support for his Wikipedia:British Union of Fascists movement,Richard Thurlow, 'State Management of the British Union of Fascits in the 1930s' in Mike Cronin (ed.), The Failure of British Fascism: The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1996) which had increasing levels of antisemitism.R. Philpot, 'Britain’s near-brush with Fascism: The politician who rooted for Hitler' (24/10/17) on Wikipedia:The Times of Israel Conservative MPs and peers who became members included John Erskine, William Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Stafford Northcote (4th Wikipedia:Earl of Iddesleigh) and Wikipedia:Edward Spears. The Conservative led government of the 1930s responded with a lack of concern to Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews, looking on the 'Nazi actions as an internal affair of a foreign country', even after the Wikipedia:Nuremberg Laws were enacted in September 1935. The Cliveden Set The Wikipedia:Cliveden Set was an upper class group of politically influential people who were 'in favour of friendly relations with Nazi Germany'.E. Black, 'The inspiring but inconvenient truth of Nancy Astor's legacy' (27/11/19) on Wikipedia:Plymouth Live Prominent members included the Conservative MP Nancy Astor (Viscountess Astor), her husband Waldord Astor (Viscount Astor), and Edward Wood (Lord Halifax). In 1936, Waldorf Astor attended the Nuremberg rally at Hitler's invitation.Wikipedia:Madge Dresser, 'Appalling or admirable? The complex legacy of Bristol's first woman MP' in The Bristol Cable Issue 21 (Oct.-Dec. 2019) The same year, the Set wrote to Prime Minister Baldwin in support of Hitler's invasion of the Rhineland.T. Golway, 'Vanity Fair Forgets Lady Astor’s Nazi Leanings (24/01/00) on Observer Nancy Astor was "fiercely" antisemiticT. Finn, 'The first woman of British parliament' (28/11/19) on History of government and "chronically suspicious of Jews", believing in the "anti-Semitic fantasy of Jewish power". She discouraged her husband from employing Jews at his newspaper, Wikipedia:The Observer and suspected Jews were behind what she saw as "appalling anti-German propaganda" in New York newspapers. Astor would mimic Jewish businessmen. She made "frequent outbursts against Jews". When speaking to fellow Conservative MP Alan Graham in 1938, Astor's used much antisemitic language, including informing Graham, "Only a Jew like you would dare to be rude to me". She said of Wikipedia:Chaim Weizmann that he was "the only decent Jew I have ever met". Nancy Astor believed that Nazism would solve "problems associated with Communism and the Jews". Writing to US ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Astor advised that it would take more than Hitler giving "a rough time" to "the killers of Christ" before she would support launching "Armageddon to save them".Wikipedia:Edward J. Renehan, Jr., The Kennedys at War: 1937-1945 (Doubleday, 2002) According to David Feldman, director of the Wikipedia:Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Wikipedia:Birkbeck, University of London, the Viscountess blamed antisemitism on the Jews: at an event held by a wealthy Jewish family, she said, "Did I not after all believe there must be something in the Jews themselves that had bought them persecution throughout all the ages?"Z. Tidman, 'Theresa May unveils statue of 'virulently antisemitic' first woman MP' (29/11/19) in Wikipedia:The Independent Lady Astor's son, Wikipedia:Jakie Astor, said that "the Jews" were one of his mother's "dragons to slay".Letter, 'Lady Astor's views' (31/08/00) in Wikipedia:The Daily Telegraph Astor received an endorsement from Churchill as she stood for election. N. Chamberlain leadership (1937–1940) Parliamentary level In the run up to Wikipedia:World War II, 'within the ranks of the governing Conservative party and its allies in the press (especially the pro-Nazi Wikipedia:Daily Mail) there was an at-times ill-disguised noxious mix of snobbery and anti-Semitism'.R. Philpot, 'Does Britain’s focus on the Kindertransport hide a guilty conscience?' (26/11/18) on Wikipedia:The Times of Israel Chamberlain's antisemitism and Truth Conservative leader and Prime Minister Wikipedia:Neville Chamberlain had a dislike for the Jews.Klaus P. Fischer, Hitler and America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011) According to R. B. Cockett, 'it is in the pages of Truth that Chamberlain's real political sympathies and prejudices can be found; political sympathies that were often in striking contrast to the official political postures adopted by his own government'. The Conservative newspaper Truth,D. Renton, The Attempted Revival Of British Fascism: Fascism And Anti-Fascism 1945-51. PhD thesis, the Department of History at the University of Sheffield, August 1998. secretly bought and overseen by Chamerlain's friend and former Wikipedia:MI5 officer Joseph Ball (now director of the Conservative research department), had been obtained as an attempt 'by a caucus within the British government to influence events anonymously via the control of a newspaper'. The paper was a 'Conservative propaganda organ',Eugene L. Rasor, Winston S. Churchill, 1874-1965: A Comprehensive Historiography and Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000) pro-Chamberlain, antisemitic and racist.R. B. Cockett, 'Ball, Chamberlain and Truth' in Wikipedia:The Historical Journal Vol. 33, No. 1 (Mar. 1990) The paper praised Hitler and attacked Chamberlain's enemies, 'a collection of persons and ideologies that would have closely resembled any hate-list that Hitler might have cared to draw up. Chief among these were the Bolsheviks/Communists and Jews'. Both Truth and Chamberlain accused people who questioned Chamberlain's attempts at appeasement with Nazi Germany of being 'unEnglish', 'Jewish/Communist traitors of the true English cause', or having been mislead by 'Jewish-Communist Wikipedia:propaganda'. The Wikipedia:Daily Mirror, which was a critic of Chamberlain, was accused in Truth of being manipulated by a secret, subversive Jewish interest; and Fleet Street at large was said to be a 'Jew-infested sink', led by the Jewish publisher Wikipedia:Victor Gollancz. Truth also attacked Jewish figures directly. Wikipedia:George Strauss MP were accused of cowardice because they did not join the armed forces during World War I (Truth paid Strauss damages for this Wikipedia:libel), and Truth carried out an antisemitic Wikipedia:character assassination on Wikipedia:Leslie Hore-Belisha after he resigned from office as Minister of War in 1940 at Chamberlain's request. The paper had been attacking Hore-Belisha since 1937. Truth saw the potential war with Germany to be a "Jewish war", fought in Jewish interests, which it opposed. It became the voice of those of had argued with Chamberlain for appeasement with Nazi Germany. It employed Major-General Wikipedia:J. F. C. Fuller (Oswald Mosley's former military adviser), who wrote against claims that the Germans were using Wikipedia:concentration camps. The paper ignored the antisemitic Wikipedia:pogroms carried out by the Germans in November 1938. In November 1938, after the Wikipedia:Kristallnacht, Chamberlain wrote to his sister, saying, 'No doubt the Jews aren't a lovable people; I don't care about them myself; but that is not sufficient to explain the Pogrom'.Saul Jay Singer, "The High Commissioner For Palestine: A Tale Of Two Appointments" (19 February 2019) on Wikipedia:The Jewish Press Churchill's Liberty article In June 1937, Churchill was commissioned to write an article for the American magazine Liberty on the so-called Jewish problem.Michael J Cohen, Britain's Moment in Palestine: Retrospect and Perspectives, 1917-1948 (Routledge, 2014) Churchill gave his ghostwriter Wikipedia:Adam Marshall Diston some suggestions on what to write and then Diston ghostwrote the article. Churchill made some handwritten marks on the draftTim Butcher, 'Churchill's attitude to Jews divides historians' (12/03/07) on The Daily Telegraph and the article was sent for typing without correction. The article repeated the popular idea that Jews brought antisemitism on themselves by remaining distanced and separate from the rest of society, and it repeated offensive stereotypes of Shylock and his "pound of flesh", Jewish usurers, and "Hebrew bloodsuckers". In part, the article, entitled 'How the Jews can Combat Wikipedia:Persecution', said: The Jew in England is a representative of his race. Every Jewish money-lender recalls Shylock and the idea of the Jews as usurers. And you cannot reasonably expect a struggling clerk or shopkeeper, paying forty or fifty per cent interest on borrowed money to a "Hebrew bloodsucker" to reflect that, throughout long centuries, almost every other way of life was closed to the Jews; or that there are native English moneylenders who insist, just as implacably, upon their "pound of flesh". In the end the article was not published, despite Churchill's repeated efforts to sell it. According to Wikipedia:Richard Toye, 'Churchill was entirely happy to put the article out in his own name and thus take responsibility for the views it expressed'.Wikipedia:Richard Toye, letter to the editor (17/03/07) in Wikipedia:The Times In 1940, Churchill declined an offer to have the article published, his office stating that it would be 'inadvisable to publish the article ... at the present time'.Wikipedia:Richard Toye, Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness (London: Pan Books, 2007) Archibald Maule Ramsay MP and the Right Club On 13 January 1938, Wikipedia:Archibald Maule Ramsay, the Unionist MP for Peebles and Southern Midlothian, gave a speech to the Arbroath Business Club in which he observed that Wikipedia:Adolf Hitler's antipathy to Jews arose from his knowledge "that the real power behind the Third International is a group of revolutionary Jews". His United Christian Front (formed in 1937) aimed to combat attacks on Christianity from 'the Red Menace' - he believed that Bolshevism was Jewish. Ramsey was influenced and made use of The Rulers of Russia by a Roman Catholic priest from Ireland, Father Wikipedia:Denis Fahey, which contended that of 59 members of the Wikipedia:Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1935, 56 were Jews, and the remaining three were married to Jews. Ramsay was sympathetic to Nazi Germany: in September, he wrote to Wikipedia:The Times to defend the right of the pro-German Wikipedia:Sudetenland to self-determination. On 15 November 1938, Ramsay was invited to a luncheon party at the German Embassy in London, where he met British sympathisers with Wikipedia:Nazi Germany, including Wikipedia:Barry Domvile.Julie V. Gottlieb, Feminine Fascism: Women in Britain's Fascist Movement, 1923-45 (London: I. B. Tauris, 2000) In December he introduced a Private Member's Bill called the "Companies Act (1929) Amendment Bill", which would require shares in news agencies and newspapers to be held openly and not through nominees. In his speech promoting the Bill, Ramsay said the press was being manipulated and controlled by "international financiers" based in Wikipedia:New York City who wanted to "thrust this country into a war". In December 1938, The Fascist (journal of the Wikipedia:Imperial Fascist League) declared that Ramsay had 'become Jew-wise'. On 10 January 1939, Ismay Ramsay, Archibald's wife, gave another speech to the Arbroath Business Club, at which she claimed the national press was "largely under Jewish control", that "an international group of Jews ... were behind world revolution in every single country" and defended Hitler's antisemitism, saying he "must ... have had his reasons for what he did". The speech was reported in the local newspaper and attracted the attention of the rabbi of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, Dr Salis Daiches, who wrote to Wikipedia:The Scotsman challenging Mrs Ramsay to produce evidence. Ramsay wrote on her behalf citing Father Fahey's booklet, and the resulting correspondence lasted for nearly a monthKenneth Roy, The Invisible Spirit: A Life of Post-War Scotland 1945-75 2nd edn (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2014) - including a letter from 11 Ministers of the Wikipedia:Church of Scotland in the County of Peebles repudiating the views of their MP. Some members of Ramsay's local Conservative Association in Wikipedia:Peebles were not pleased by what they considered negative publicity; however, the Peebles Conservative Association expressed its 'solidarity and unanimity' with Ramsay and he received an 'enthusiastic welcome' at local Conservative meetings. On 27 April he spoke to a branch of the (antisemitic) Wikipedia:Nordic League (of which he was a memberGavin Bowd, Fascist Scotland (Birlinn, 2013)) in Kilburn, attacking Neville Chamberlain for introducing Wikipedia:conscription "at the instigation of the Jews" and claiming that the Conservative Party "relies on ... Jew money". In May 1939, Ramsay set up the Wikipedia:Right Club, to fight so-called Wikipedia:Judeo-Bolshevism. Ramsay said that "The main objective the Right Club was to oppose and expose the activities of organised Jewry". The logo of the Right Club, seen on its badge, was of an Wikipedia:eagle killing a Wikipedia:snake with the initials P.J. (which stood for "Perish Judah"). Members of the Right Club included well-known antisemites like Wikipedia:William Joyce (AKA Wikipedia:Lord Haw-Haw),Description of 'Ramsay Archibald Henry Maule Captain 1894 politician, Red Book: Membership list of Captain Ramsay's Right Club, 1939. Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide. GB 1556 WL 1369' on the Archives Hub website, archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb1556-wl1369, (date accessed :03/02/2019) Wikipedia:Arnold Leese, Wikipedia:A. K. Chesterton (who had left Mosley's BUF in 1933 because Mosley had not been antisemitic enough for him), along with Conservative peers and politicians, like James Graham (at the time, Marquess of Graham), William Forbes-Sempill (Lord Sempill), David Freeman-Mitford (Lord Redesdale), Gerard Wallop (Lord Lymington), and John Hamilton Mackie. At its early meetings, Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) (one of Churchill's friends) took the chair. The Right Club held closed meetings in the House of Commons. Ramsay distributed copies of the antisemitic periodical The Truth to MPs. The paper was a Conservative Party publication and was edited by an antisemite. During the time Ramsay was launching the Right Club, he spoke at a meeting of the Wikipedia:Nordic League at the Wikipedia:Wigmore Hall at which a reporter from the Daily Worker was present and reported Ramsay as saying that they needed to end Jewish control, "and if we don't do it constitutionally, we'll do it with steel" – a statement greeted with wild applause.P. Frost, 'When Hitler's perfect woman came to London' (01/04/14) on The Morning Star The popular magazine John Bull picked up on the report and challenged Ramsay to contradict it or explain himself. Ramsay's local constituency newspaper, the Peeblesshire Advertiser, made the same challenge and Ramsay responded by admitting he had made the speech, citing the fact that three halls had refused to host the meeting as evidence of Jewish control. On the second day of the Second World War, 4 September 1939, Ramsay sat in the library of the House of Commons and, on House of Commons headed notepaper, write a parody of Wikipedia:Land of Hope and Glory, which contained the following lines: Land of dope and Jewry Land that once was free All the Jew boys praise thee While they plunder thee ... Land of Jewish finance Fooled by Jewish lies In press and books and movies While our birthright dies. One 12 September 1939, Hugh Grosvenor (Duke of Westminster) read out an antisemitic anti-war statement at one of the Right Club's meetings. The statement said that the war (later known as the Second World War) was 'part of a Jewish and Masonic plot to destroy Christian civilization'. The statement was circulated to a number of Cabinet ministers, including Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain. The following day, after several ministers complained to Churchill about the Duke of Westminster's 'indiscretion', Churchill wrote a note to the Duke, but did not address the antisemitic elements of speech; rather, Churchill's concern was with the Duke's opposition to the war. The Right Club spent the so-called Wikipedia:Phoney War period at the start of the Second World War distributing propaganda in the form of leaflets and "sticky-backs" (adhesive labels containing slogans), with Ramsay later explaining that he wanted "to maintain the atmosphere in which the "Phoney War", as it was called, might be converted into an honourable negotiated peace". In addition to Ramsay's Land of dope and Jewry rhyme, the slogans included "War destroys workers" and "This is a Jews' War". Some of the leaflets asserted "the stark truth is that this war was plotted and engineered by the Jews for world-power and vengeance".Richard Griffiths, Patriotism Perverted (Faber & Faber, 2015) On 20 March 1940, Ramsay asked a question about a Wikipedia:propaganda radio station set up by Germany which gave its precise wavelength,Alfred William Brian Simpson, In the Highest Degree Odious: Detention Without Trial in Wartime Britain (OUP, 1994) which was suspected by both his allies and opponents as a subtle way of advertising it. On 9 May he asked for an assurance from the Wikipedia:Home Secretary "that he refuses to be stampeded ... by a ramp in our Jew-ridden press". Ronald Nall-Cain In April 1939, Ronald Nall-Cain (Baron Brocket), who joined various anti-Semitic organisations, attended Hitler's 50th birthday celebration. Antisemitism towards Leslie Hore-Belisha Around the start of 1940, senior Conservative parliamentarians, including Wikipedia:Harold Macmillan and Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (Viscount Cranbourne), led an antisemiticColin Holmes, A Tolerant Country?: Immigrants, Refugees and Minorities (Abingdom: Routledge, 1991) attack on Wikipedia:Secretary of State for War Wikipedia:Leslie Hore-Belisha, the influence of which led Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to remove him from office in January 1940. A week after Hore-Belisha was dismissed, Ramsay distributed in the House of Commons copies of [[Wikipedia:Truth (British periodical)|''Truth]]'' (a magazine connected to Neville Chamberlain) which made allegations about Hore-Belisha's financial activities.A. R. J. Kushner, 'British Antisemitism in the Second World War' (July 1986). PhD thesis. Department of Economic and Social History, University of Sheffield Ramsay also put down a motion which cited the regretful reactions of many newspapers to Hore-Belisha's sacking as evidence of Jewish control of the press.Susan Hollern Szczetnikowicz, 'British Newsreels and the Plight of European Jews, 1933-1945' (Jan. 2006). PhD thesis. Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire Subsequently, Hore-Belisha was blocked from taking office as Minister of Information because of antisemitic pressure led by the Foreign Secretary, Edward Wood.Wikipedia:Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man (Penguin, 2007) Edward Stanley (Lord Derby) commented to the French Ambassador, "I hope you and your people do not take Monsieur Hore-Belisha to be a true Englishman". Henry "Chips" Channon, a 'great friend of Leslie Hore-Belisha', referred to Hore-Belisha as 'the Jew boy' ('but I am fond of him', the added). Channon also described Hore-Belisha as 'an oliy man, half Jew, an opportunist, with the Semitic flair for publicity'.Alex Danchev, 'Waltzing with Winston: Civil-Military Relations in the Second World War' in Paul Smith (ed), Government and Armed Forces in Britain, 1856-1990 (London: Hambledon Press, 1996) During this time there was antisemitism 'in the corridors of power'. Grassroots level Antisemitism towards Jewish election candidates Wikipedia:Daniel Lipson, Wikipedia:Mayor of Wikipedia:Cheltenham, was rejected by Wikipedia:Cheltenham Wikipedia:Conservative Association as their potential election candidate in the 1937 by-election because of antisemitism within the association.Nick Crowson, The Longman Companion to the Conservative Party: Since 1830 (Longman, 2016) Churchill leadership (1940–1955) According to Colin Shindler, during Churchill's political life, there was 'ingrained anti-Semitism in the Conservative Party'.C. Shindler, 'Churchill and the Jewish State' (27/12/07) on Wikipedia:The Jerusalem Post Eden's antisemitism One of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Wikipedia:Anthony Eden's aides noted in his diary in 1942 that "Anthony is immovable on the subject of Palestine. He loves Arabs and hates Jews".Norbert Strauss, 'Churchill Was Anti-Semitic! Really?' (02/02/17) on Jewish Link of New Jersey 1945 general election and the Hampstead 'anti-alien' petition In August 1945 Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle reported that 'antisemitism on the part of Conservative party supporters had led many local political associations not to select Jewish candidates'. During the election campaign of that year, Conservative candidate Wavell Wakefield said that Jewish refugees should be repatriated to solve London's housing crisis.Graham Macklin, 'A quite natural and moderate defensive feeling'? The 1945 Hampstead 'anti-alien' petition' (2003) in Patterns of Prejudice 37:3 DOI: 10.1080/00313220307594 During the campaign, too, the Daily Herald accused the Conservatives of making antisemitic remarks about Professor Wikipedia:Harold Laski (political theorist of the Wikipedia:London School of Economics and chair of the Labour Party's Wikipedia:National Executive Committee). In 1945, the local Hampstead Conservative group began agitation against Jewish immigration. In October 1945, an antisemitic petition was drawn up, with the help of Wikipedia:Waldron Smithers's (Conservative MP for Orpington) Wikipedia:Fighting Fund for Freedom, by residents of Hampstead, requesting 'that aliens of Hampstead should be repatriated to assure men and women of the Forces should have accommodation upon their return' from World War II. The petition was signed by the antisemitic Conservative mayor of Hampstead Sydney A. Boyd and four of Hampstead's Conservative councillors, with the rest of the Conservative members of the council in favour of the petition. Hampstead's Conservative MP, Wikipedia:Charles Challen, promised to give the petition his 'unstinting support' and he asked a number of questions in the House of Commons on behalf of the petitioners over the following months. When the petition was complete, Conservative Councillor J. A. Hughes passed it to Challen who, 'rather than repudiate the sponsors for their antisemitism', delivered it to Parliament. Rural and urban antisemitism Surveying the period from 1945, after the end of the Second World War, until 1988, Wikipedia:Geoffrey Alderman says that 'anti-Jewish prejudice was rampant in some Conservative associations in rural areas', and that 'it was by no means confined to the countryside'. At a civic reception held in 1945 to confer upon Sydney A. Boyd the status of Honorary Freeman of the Borough, the Conservative Mayor of Hampstead made a number of 'cheap anti-Semitic gibes', including the suggestion that Swiss Cottage needed a 'British Consul'. Sometimes after the Second World War, Ramsay called for the reinstatement of the 1275 Wikipedia:Statute of the Jewry passed under King Edward I.Tim Tate, Hitler’s British Traitors (Icon Books, 2018) In 1946, Charles Challen led a protest against construction to turn a former Congregationalist church into a synagogue - it was 'a thinly veiled anti-Semitic attack which effectively objected to appropriation of a formerly "English" space by Jews'.Hannah Ewence, 'Placing the 'Other' in Our Midst: Immigrant Jews, Gender and the British Imperial Imagination' (2010), University of Southampton, Faculty of Humanities, PhD Thesis In October 1948, Douglas Peroni (former treasurer of the Hampstead branch of the British Union of Fascists and chair of the fascist Hampstead Literary Society, and leader of the Hampstead branch of Wikipedia:Oswald Mosely's Wikipedia:Union Movement) established 'an active fascist group’ within the Hampstead council which were in accord with members of the local Conservative group over Jewish immigration. Andrew Fountaine Wikipedia:Andrew Fountaine was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate by the Chorley Conservative Association in 1948 or 1949.Stan Taylor, The National Front in English Politics (London: Macmillan, 1982) At the Llandudno Conservative Party Conference the same year, Fountain gave an antisemitic speech.Mark Pitchford, The Conservative Party and the Extreme Right 1945-1975 (Manchester University Press, 2001) The Conservative's Standing Advisory Committee on Candidates disavowed him, meaning he failed to gain approval at a national level.Allen M. Potter, 'The English Conservative Constituency Association' in The Western Political Quarterly Vol. 9, No. 2 (Jun. 1956) However, come the 1950 general election, there was no 'London-sponsored' replacement for FountainePeter Pulzer, Political Representation and Elections in Britain 2nd edn (Abingdon: Routledge, 1972) and the Chorley Conservative Association did not try to find a replacement either, so he ran as a locally nominated Conservative candidate. Later, Fountaine left the Conservatives. League of Empire Loyalists In 1954, the antisemitic, far-right Wikipedia:ginger group the Wikipedia:League of Empire Loyalists was founded and led by Wikipedia:Arthur K. Chesterton, a former leading figure in the British Union of Fascists,Nigel Fielding, The National Front (Routledge, 1981) who had served under Sir Oswald Mosley. The pressure group was composed of 'right-wing Conservatives,Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations (London: Pinter, 2000) particularly retired military men, and a few pre-war Fascists'. Conservative MPs who were part of the group included Edward Martell and Wikipedia:Andrew Fountaine. Eden leadership (1955–1957) Antisemitism towards Keith Joseph In 1956, Wikipedia:Keith Joseph was elected as an MP but he faced challenges from antisemitic forces within the Conservative party, which at the time had a 'reputation for being unwelcoming to Jews'. One of the people who interviewed him 'for inclusion on the party's candidates list' commented, "As a Jew, I suppose he is not every constituency's man and, therefore, his placing would need care" and, indeed, Joseph faced 'local mutterings against picking a Jew to represent the party'. Within the parliamentary party, Joseph was considered 'something of an outsider' and 'lamentably exotic'.R. Philpot, 'Meet the little-known Jewish man behind Britain’s Thatcherist revolution' (17/01/18) in The Times of Israel Macmillan leadership (1957–1963) Parliamentary level Macmillan's antisemitism Wikipedia:Harold Macmillan's diaries were 'spattered with abuse of other public figures, often tinged with anti-semitism'.Ferdinand Mount, 'Too Obviously Cleverer' (08/09/11) on London Review of Books Vol. 33 No. 17 Wikipedia:Gerald Kaufman was someone Macmillan referred to antisemitically in his diaries.Gerald Kaufman, letter to the editor (10/09/14) in The Guardian Macmillan 'often made snide jokes about Jews and Jewish politicians'. On another occasion, he called Wikipedia:Leslie Hore-Belisha 'Horeb Elisha', thereby highlighting his Jewish ancestry by referencing Wikipedia:Mount Horeb and the prophet Wikipedia:Elisha. Local level Involvement with antisemitic groups In 1958, the Conservative Party Council of the Bournemouth constituency nominated James Friend to be the constituency's prospective parliamentary candidate.'British Conservative Party Probes Commons Candidate on Charge of Anti-semitism' (22/12/58) in Wikipedia:Jewish Telegraphic Agency's Daily News Bulletin Jewish members of the council resigned because, they alleged, Friend had 'close links with the anti-Semitic Wikipedia:League of Empire Loyalists and has engaged in anti-Semitic activities'. Friend had given the inaugural meeting of the League of Empire Loyalists' local branch. Douglas Hogg (Lord Hailsham), chairman of the British Conservative Party, reportedly made a personal inquiry into the matter. Grassroots level Golf Club antisemitism In 1957 'prominent Conservatives' who were in control of the Finchley Golf Club were baring Jews from joining. This, according to Alderman, was the 'most blatant example' of 'anti-Jewish prejudice ... rampant in some of the Conservative associations' in post-war Britain; it resulted in 'an angry wave of Jewish anti-Tory protest' in the Finchley area.R.W. Johnson, 'Is this successful management?' Vol. 11 No. 8 (20/04/89) in Wikipedia:London Review of Books Heath leadership (1965–1975) Parliamentary level 'Zionist influence' investigation In 1971, when Wikipedia:Edward Heath was Prime Minister and the Foreign Office was headed by Wikipedia:Alec Douglas-Home, the Wikipedia:Foreign and Commonwealth Office launched a secret investigation to 'evaluate Zionist influence in the US and Europe'. The findings 'echoed anti-Semitic notions of Jewish financial power, dual loyalty and undue political influence'.Dave Rich, 'The U.K. Foreign Office’s Secret Survey to 'Measure Zionist Influence'' (17/01/16) on Wikipedia:Haaretz The report was concerned with power and influence of 'Jewish money' and the 'Jewish lobby' and 'appeared to treat the people and organizations involved in British Zionism not as British citizens exercising their democratic rights, but as agents of foreign pressure on the government', 'reflected a belief that Diaspora Jewish interests were separate from, and even inimical to, those of the countries in which they lived'. Antisemitism towards Gerald Kaufman The Labour MP Wikipedia:Gerald Kaufman was critical of the arms delivery embargo the Conservative government imposed on Israel during the 1973 attack by Egypt on Israel. Foreign Secretary Alec Douglas-Home told Kaufman that his (Kaufman's) 'loyalty appeared to be to Israel and not to Britain'. To Kaufman, 'It was a clear anti-Jewish insinuation'. On another occasion, Charles Taylor told Kaufman to "Get back to Tel Aviv". Thatcher leadership (1975–1990) Parliamentary level Alan Clark MP In 1981, Wikipedia:Alan Clark (Wikipedia:Minister of State for Trade, 1986–1989; Wikipedia:Minister for Defence Procurement, 1989–1992) told Frank Johnson that he, Clark, was a Nazi. He wrote in his diary: 'I really believed it [[Wikipedia:Nazism]] to be the ideal system, and that it was a disaster for the Anglo-Saxon races and for the world that it was extinguished'.Wikipedia:Dominic Lawson, 'Alan Clark was not 'wonderful'. He was sleazy and cruel (15/09/09) on Wikipedia:The Independent On 31 March 1982, Clark made the following diary entry: Today I asked an offensive question about Jews. It is always thought to be rude to refer to 'Jews', isn't it? I remember that slightly triste occasion, watched from the gallery, of my father being inaugurated into the Lords and my rage at Sidney Bernstein, who was being ennobled on the same afternoon and would not take the Christian oath. As loudly as I could I muttered and mumbled about 'Jews' in order to discomfit his relations who were also clustered in the gallery. :I had hung it around the Forgeign Secretary's visit to Israel ... It is always fun to see how far you can go with taboo subjects... On 26 December 1986, while Minister of State for Trade, Clark described in his diary the colour of someone's gold Wikipedia:Rolls-Royce as 'Jewish racing yellow', adding that apparently that is what 'the colour is termed in the Mess at Wikipedia:Knightsbridge'.Brenda Maddox, Maggie - The First Lady: The woman behind the title (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2003)Alan Clark, Diaries: In Power 1983-1992 (Hachette, 2011) Hamilton's Nazi salute On an August 1983 parliamentary trip to Berlin, Neil Hamilton made a Wikipedia:Nazi salute 'with two fingers to his nose to give the impression of a Wikipedia:toothbrush moustache' when outside the Reichstag. The salute was reported on 30 January 1984 in a Wikipedia:BBC Panorama programme, "Wikipedia:Maggie's Militant Tendency". Hamilton sued the BBC for libel, claiming that he had no recollection of making the salute. The BBC pulled out of the case and Hamilton was awarded £20,000 in damages. However, after the case collapsed, Hamilton admitted in a Sunday Times article to having made the Nazi salute. David Mellor In January 1988 during an official visit to Wikipedia:Israel, Wikipedia:David Mellor, then a Foreign Office minister, harrangued against what he saw as the "excessive" security checking of Wikipedia:Palestinians by troops, demanding that it be stopped, and later stating to journalists that the treatment was "an affront to civilised values."Israel policy under attack as unrest continues BY OUR JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT AND FOREIGN STAFF LONDON Financial Times 7 January 1988 Mellor refused point blank to apologise and was later privately Wikipedia:reprimanded by Thatcher. In 1992, Mellor resigned from Government after being exposed as having connection to Bauwens, the daughter of Jaweed al-Ghussein, the finance director of the PLO.Anton La Guardia "Mona Bauwens to seek retrial as libel action ends in 'hung' jury Mona Bauwens to seek retrial", The Herald (Glasgow), 23 September 1992 Antisemitism towards Jews in the cabinet There were a number of Jews in Wikipedia:Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, all of whom experienced antisemitism from their colleagues. The antisemitism may have been involved in the resignation of two Jewish cabinet members. Wikipedia:Harold Macmillan commented that the Conservative cabinet 'was more old Estonian that old Etonian', which was 'a none-too-subtle way of putting Wikipedia:Nigel Lawson, Wikipedia:Leon Brittan or Wikipedia:Michael Howard in their place'.Denis MacShane, Globalising Hatred: The New Antisemitism (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2008) Wikipedia:Leon Brittan resigned as Trade and Industry Secretary in January 1986 over the Wikipedia:Westland affair. Wikipedia:Jonathan Aitken wrote of Brittan's resignation: "Soon after a poisonous meeting of Tory Wikipedia:backbenchers at the Wikipedia:1922 Committee he fell on his sword. It was a combination of a witch hunt and a search for a scapegoat – tainted by an undercurrent of anti-Semitism. ... I believed what should have been obvious to anyone else, that he was being used as a lightning conductor to deflect the fire that the Prime Minister Thatcher had started and inflamed". In the discussion over who should replace Leon Brittan after he was removed from the cabinet, John Stokes commented that the 'replacement should at least be a "proper red-faced, red-blooded Englishman"'. The Jewish Board of Deputies sensed an antisemitic slur in the words, as did Brittan's non-Jewish wife Diana Brittan. Other antisemitic comments were made about Brittan by his fellow Conservatives: 'But these came from members who would make slighting remarks about almost anyone with a background different from their own', Conservative MPs commented.J. Lelyveld, 'Jewish Tories and Red-Blooded Englishmen' (19/02/86) in The New York Times Wikipedia:Edwina Currie also received antisemitic comments from 'certain red-faced, red-blooded Englishmen on the Tory backbenches'. Former MP Wikipedia:Anna McCurley reported that Currie, despite being a member of the Wikipedia:Church of England, was labelled a "pushy Jewess". An advisor to John Moore commented that the Conservative backbenches were "riddled with prejudice of every kind", with "anti-Semitism being secondary to the male chauvinism" in the case of Currie. John Marshall also said that there was antisemitism in the Conservative party at this time.'British TV Show Explores Government Anti-semitism: the Jewish Chronicle' (03/11/89) on Wikipedia:Jewish Telegraphic Agency Grassroots level Antisemitism towards Jewish election candidate In 1982 Wikipedia:Michael Howard finally became election candidate for Folkestone after having been rejected by about 40 constituency parties because of antisemitism within those parties.J. Freedland, 'The trailblazer' (31/10/03) in The Guardian Links to the NF During the 1983 general election a Conservative Party candidate who had formerly been a member of the National Front ran for election in a marginal constituency, Stockton South. The Wikipedia:Board of Deputies of British Jews distributed flyers in the constituency to inform people of this. The SDP won the seat, but only very narrowly. Major leadership (1990–1997) Parliamentary level Widdecombe's 'something of the night' comment In 1997, during the Conservative leadership election of Wikipedia:William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary Wikipedia:Ann Widdecombe spoke out against Wikipedia:Michael Howard, under whom she had served when he was Home Secretary. She remarked in the House of Commons that there is "something of the night" about Howard, who is of Romanian Jewish descent. This remark was considered by some to be antisemitic.Jonathan Freedland, Tories Rallying Around New Contender' (07/11/03) on ForwardWikipedia:Kehinde Andrews, 'Comparing Corbyn's comments to Powell's 'rivers of blood' is offensive' (29/08/18) in The Guardian Hague leadership (1997–2001) Nazi salutes by OUCA members In 2000, four Wikipedia:Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) members were expelled for making Nazi salutes. The Wikipedia:New Statesman reported that a member of the OUCA committee at the University's 2001 Freshers' Fair greeted new students by saying, "Welcome to OUCA – the biggest political group for young people since the Wikipedia:Hitler Youth". Another prominent member was dismissed from the Wikipedia:Oxford University Student Union's executive for "marching up and down doing a Wikipedia:Nazi salute". Johnson: editor of The Spectator and parliamentary candidate A few months before the 2001 general election in which he first entered Parliament as a Conservative MP, Wikipedia:Boris Johnson, then editor of Wikipedia:The Spectator, published an article by Wikipedia:Taki Theodoracopulos in which Theodoracopulos (usually known as Taki) wrote about the Jewish world conspiracy and declared himself to be a "soi-disant anti-Semite". Johnson did not sack Taki,'Selective spectator' (21/10/04) on Wikipedia:the Guardian despite protest by the magazine's owner, Wikipedia:Conrad Black. Howard leadership (2002–2005) Parliamentary level Antisemitism on the frontbench In October 2004, a Conservative Wikipedia:frontbencher said, "The trouble is that the Conservative party is being run by Wikipedia:Michael Howard, Maurice Saatchi, and Wikipedia:Oliver Letwin - and none of them really knows what it is to be English".Simon Hoggart, 'A Tory victory - it's a six in 1,800 chance' (09/10/04) on The Guardian Another report said 'a junior frontbencher ... was musing about how the party was now being led. Saatchi, Michael Howard and Oliver Letwin were in charge: could they know how Englishmen felt?'Wikipedia:James Naughtie, 'Diary' (11/10/04) in Wikipedia:New Statesman Cameron leadership (2005–2016) Parliamentary level Membership of European Conservatives and Reformists In 2009, prominent Jewish community leaders – including Wikipedia:chief rabbi of Poland Wikipedia:Michael Schudrich, Wikipedia:Rafal Pankowski of the Holocaust campaign group "Never Again", Rabbi Wikipedia:Barry Marcus of the London Central Synagogue, the Parisian Wikipedia:European Jewish Congress and others – expressed concern over Conservative Party membership of the Wikipedia:European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, to which the Conservative MEPs belonged. The chair of the group was Wikipedia:Michał Kamiński of Poland's Wikipedia:Law and Justice party, who was, in the words of a Wikipedia:New Statesman writer, "widely seen on the Continent as anti-Semitic".James MacIntyre, 'Jewish leaders turn on Tories' (30/07/09) in the New Statesman Kaminski is a former member of the Wikipedia:neo-Nazi Wikipedia:National Revival of Poland party (NOP). Another leading ECR activist, Dr Wikipedia:Roberts Zīle of Wikipedia:Latvia's National Alliance party, caused concern due to his party's alleged role in commemorative events for Latvian Waffen SS units. The Conservative Party's "alliances with far-right, anti-semitic political parties on the continent" had become a concern for US politicians.P. Miller, 'Cameron's Tory government's anti-semitism ties alarmed US diplomats, Wikileaks cables reveal' (06/03/19) on Morning Star Burley's Nazi-themed stag do In 2012, Conservative MP Wikipedia:Aidan Burley was sacked from his role as ministerial aide because he organised a Nazi-themed stag do in 2011.A. Grenville, 'British politicians misuse the Holocaust' in Wikipedia:Association of Jewish Refugees Journal Vol. 12 No. 6, June 2012 Burley supplied an SS uniform and insignia to the groom, who was fined £1,500 by a French court for wearing the costume and ordered to pay €1,000 to an organisation representing families of those who had been sent to death camps during World War Two. A Conservative Party report on Burley's behaviour, authored by Conservative peer Lord Gold, released in 2014 said Burley was not racist or antisemitic but that he had acted in a 'stupid and offensive way'. Wikipedia:Ian Austin and Wikipedia:The Mail on Sunday accused Burley of providing misleading information to the inquiry.M. Dysch, 'Aidan Burley to stand down as MP after Nazi stag-do controversy' (05/02/14) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle Prime Minister David Cameron and the Conservative leadership stood in support of Burley.N. Watt and K. Willsher, 'Tory MP Aidan Burley ruled 'stupid' but not antisemitic for Nazi stag party' (22/06/14) in Wikipedia:The Guardian Cameron and the use of 'yid' During a 2013 row over Tottenham Hotspur fans' use of the slurs Wikipedia:Yid and Yiddos, Wikipedia:David Cameron defended the fans' use of the words, saying Spurs fans should not be prosecuted for using them. This was in opposition to newly released guidelines from the Wikipedia:Football Association and contrary to the Wikipedia:Crown Prosecution Service's and the Metropolitan Police's use and defence of the Wikipedia:Public Order Act 1986. Journalist Wikipedia:Stefan Fatsis wrote that Cameron was giving an excuse for people to 'propagate racial and ethnic slurs and stereotypes'Wikipedia:Stefan Fatsis, 'Soccer’s "Yid" Problem' (24/09/13) on Slate and Cameron was criticised by lawyer Peter Herbert for condoning and legitimising antisemitism.'Peter Herbert hits out at PM David Cameron for stance on Y-word chants' (18/09/13) on ''Wikipedia:Sky Sports NewsDavid Cameron branded 'ludicrous' over 'Yid' debate' (18/09/13) on Wikipedia:CNN In the following year, the Metropolitan Police stated that Tottenham fans would not be arrested for chanting the word, unless a complaint was received. Rees-Mogg and the Traditional Britain Group In 2013, Wikipedia:Jacob Rees-Mogg was guest-of-honour'Right-wing group defiant after Tory MP disowns them (08/08/13) on Channel 4 News and gave the keynote speech at a dinner of the racist Wikipedia:Traditional Britain Group (TBG).,N. Sommerlad 'Vile racist rant by far-right dinner host of top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg' (29/01/18) on the Wikipedia:Daily Mirror The Antisemitism Policy Trust highlighted Rees-Mogg's attendance at this party in their Antisemitism and the Conservative Party dossier.Antisemitism Policy Trust, 'Antisemitism and the Conervative Party' (2019) Before the dinner date, the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight contacted Rees-Mogg 'to try to dissuade him from speaking at the dinner', but it was 'to no avail'. At the time, the vice-president of the group, who sat next to Rees-Mogg at the dinner, was Wikipedia:Gregory Lauder-Frost (TBG founder'From Boris to Rees-Mogg: Do the Tories have their own racism problem? ' (29/03/18) on RT), formerly political secretary of the Conservative Monday Club (when Lauder-Frost was a member, the Monday Club was 'a pressure group within the Tory party' - it was 'later banned by Wikipedia:Iain Duncan Smith 2001 because of its views on race'A. McSmith, 'Gregory Lauder-Frost exposed: The Tory fringe group leader with Nazi sympathies' (09/08/13) on Wikipedia:The Independent). Speaking to an undercover Wikipedia:Hope Not Hate researcher in 2017 about Wikipedia:Vanessa Feltz, Lauder-Frost said, 'She's a fat Jewish s**g, she's revolting, revolting. She lives with a negro. She's horrible'. At the time Rees-Mogg spoke at the dinner, the TBG's President was Merlin Hanbury-Tracy (Lord Sudeley), a member of the Conservative Party, a Conservative peer, and former chairman of the Conservative Monday Club. Mercer's 'bloody Jew' comment In May 2014, Conservative MP Wikipedia:Patrick Mercer was recorded by journalist Daniel Foggo saying, during the course of an anecdote, that an Israeli soldier looked like a "bloody Jew".R. Mason, 'Patrick Mercer made one of worst ever breaches of rules, watchdog finds' (01/05/14) in Wikipedia:The Guardian Mercer stepped down as MP after an investigation and report by the House of Commons standards committee into his links to lobbying and paid advocacy. Bridgen's "Jewish lobby" In October 2014, Conservative MP Wikipedia:Andrew Bridgen said, in a speech in the Wikipedia:House of Commons, that "the political system of the world's superpower and our great ally the United States is very susceptible to well-funded powerful lobbying groups and the power of the Jewish lobby in America".'Tory MP Andrew Bridgen stands by 'Jewish lobby' remark (14/10/14) on Wikipedia:Jewish News Following condemnation by organisations, Bridgen stood by his remarks. Attacks on Ed Miliband Conservative attacks on the Labour leader Wikipedia:Ed Miliband in 2014"Is criticism of Ed Miliband a coded form of anti-Semitism?". The Independent. 26 November 2014. Retrieved on 17 February 2019. and 2015Kahn-Harris, Keith (6 May 2015). "Is the Sun's 'save our bacon' election front page antisemitic?". Retrieved on 17 February 2019 – via www.theguardian.com. have been criticised as Wikipedia:coded antisemitism. Wikipedia:Francis Beckett claimed that some attacks on Wikipedia:Ed Miliband and his father, the academic Wikipedia:Ralph Miliband, were antisemitic. Beckett concluded that "we have been conned into believing that anti-Semitism is now a disease of the left. In reality, it is still found mostly in racism's historic home: on the right." Richard Fuller's "30 pieces of silver" comment After BHS, the Wikipedia:department store chain owned by Wikipedia:Philip Green, when into administration in April 2016 and was sold for £1, Richard Fuller said, "If the sale was done on the understanding that it was avoiding responsibility for those pension losses, then the £1 received was the equivalent to 30 pieces of silver in his betrayal of the employees and pensioners at BHS".A. Brummer, 'Green, BHS and the ethics of business' (27/04/19) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle The phrase "30 pieces of silver" was 'a reference to the price Judas received for betraying Jesus' and it was regarded as an antisemitic comment. Local level Attacks on Ed Miliband In April 2015 a Conservative local council candidate was suspended for saying she could never support "the Jew" Ed Miliband.'Ed Miliband Jewish slur candidate suspended by Conservatives' (27/04/15) on BBC News Grassroots level Allegation of antisemitic song in OUCA In 2011, one officer of the Wikipedia:Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) stated that some association members at weekly meetings sang a Nazi-themed song that included the lines 'Dashing through the Reich / killing lots of Wikipedia:Kike'.G. Rayner, 'Oxford Tories' nights of port and Nazi songs' (04/11/11) on Wikipedia:The Daily Telegraph Allegations of antisemitism in UCL Conservative Society In October 2014 UCL Conservative Society was ordered by UCL's Student Union to apologise for creating a "toxic environment" in which discrimination, including antisemitism, was the culture. One accusation was that a member of the society said, "Jews own everything, we all know it’s true. I wish I was Jewish, but my nose isn’t long enough".G. Pogrund & P. Maguire, ''Toxic' UCL Tories forced to apologise after racist abuse accusations' (2014) on The TabM. Smith, '27 times the Tory party have had a racism problem' (05/05/16) on the Wikipedia:Daily Mirror The society denied the accusations. There is no evidence the Conservative party investigated the incidents.Unite, 'A dossier on racism in the Conservative Party' (2016) - archived from the original May leadership (2016–2019) Parliamentary level Theresa May and a former aide At the Conservative Party Conference in October 2016, Wikipedia:Theresa May said, "If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere". Leader of the Liberal Democrats Wikipedia:Vince Cable and Jewish journalist Wikipedia:Benjamin Ramm saw similarities between the language used by May and that of Wikipedia:Adolf Hitler in Wikipedia:Mein Kampf, as well as Wikipedia:Joseph Stalin's anti-"Wikipedia:rootless cosmopolitan" campaign against Jews in the Soviet Union.'Vince Cable compares Theresa May’s 'evil' language to Mein Kampf (06/07/17) in Jewish NewsWikipedia:Benjamin Ramm, 'Citizens Of Nowhere – Jewish Identity After Brexit' (05/12/18) on Wikipedia:Jewish Quarterly In February 2018, May's former aide, Wikipedia:Nick Timothy, co-wrote a story for Wikipedia:The Daily Telegraph which described Jewish philanthropist Wikipedia:George Soros's funding of the anti-Brexit campaign as a "secret plot". This was criticised as antisemitic by journalists Wikipedia:Hugo Rifkind and Wikipedia:Dan Hodges, as well as former campaign director to Tony Blair Wikipedia:Alastair Campbell, and American-British author and playwright Wikipedia:Bonnie Greer. In response, Timothy tweeted: "Throughout my career I've campaigned against antisemitism, helped secure more funding for security at synagogues and Jewish schools". Boris Johnson In January 2017, Foreign Secretary Wikipedia:Boris Johnson met with Wikipedia:Steve Bannon, who was at the time Wikipedia:Donald Trump's chief strategist. Johnson was accused by the Wikipedia:Jewish Labour Movement chair of hypocrisy for meeting Bannon, someone who, according to the JLM chair, "enabled right wing antisemitism to seep into the mainstream", while also criticising Labour's approach to antisemitism.Daniel Sugarman, 'Boris Johnson condemned for attacking Jeremy Corbyn on antisemitism but meeting alt-right figure Steve Bannon' (30/07/18) on The Jewish Chronicle Sajid Javid Wikipedia:Shaun Lawson, writing in Wikipedia:Open Democracy, accused Wikipedia:Sajid Javid of exploiting antisemitism "for naked political purposes" after Javid tweeted a disapproval of Holocaust denial. Javid then attempted to link denying the Holocaust to the Wikipedia:Labour leader, Wikipedia:Jeremy Corbyn, by stating (we) should not be misled by Corbyn.Shaun Lawson, ''Enough of these disgraceful slurs against Jeremy Corbyn' (23/07/2018) in Wikipedia:Open Democracy Javid was forced to retract his comment, and responded by tweeting: “Corbyn is not a Holocaust denier. I am happy to make that clear.”Rob Merrick, ''Sajid Javid backtracks on Jeremy Corbyn 'Holocaust denier' tweet following backlash' (21/07/2018) in Wikipedia:The Independent Javid was again accused of an antisemitic tweet when he wished Jews in the UK and abroad a happy Wikipedia:Rosh Hashanah. He insisted people were feeling under threat from Jeremy Corbyn, and "for all decent people to stand together to celebrate our Jewish community". This drew criticism from Wikipedia:Michael Rosen who noted that Javid had used a similar antisemitism to that seen in Wikipedia:Vichy France, where Jews had been separated into French or foreign born. Javid, following this lead, had separated Jews based on "decent Jews" and "Corbyn supporting Jews". David Schneider insisted that Javid had used Rosh Hashanah as a "political football" and was ignoring Wikipedia:Islamophobia and racism within Javid's own party.Mike Sivier, ''The – GENUINE – anti-Semitism of Sajid Javid' (08/08/2018) in Vox IHRA antisemitism definition In July 2018, during a row over the Labour Party and the Wikipedia:International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, Wikipedia:Channel 4 FactCheck revealed that the Conservative Party rulebook did not mention antisemitism, despite Theresa May stating that her party had adopted the IHRA definition.M. Weaver, 'The IHRA definition of antisemitism: where UK parties stand' (05/09/18) in The Guardian''G. Lee, 'Conservative party rulebook doesn’t mention antisemitism' (20/07/18) on ''Channel 4 Later that year, the party's code of conduct was amended, adding an annexe stipulating that the IHRA definition was fully adopted, to support the existing stipulation that discrimination on the basis of "religion or belief" was prohibited. Support of European antisemitic political parties At the start of April 2018, foreign secretary Boris Johnson was criticised by opposition politicians and campaign groups for congratulating Wikipedia:Viktor Orbán on his re-election as Wikipedia:Prime Minister of Hungary, in part because of concern about "anti-Semitic undertones" to Orban's campaign.G. Heffer, 'Boris Johnson criticised for congratulating Hungary's Viktor Orban' (10/04/18) on Wikipedia:Sky NewsJ. Elgot, 'Boris Johnson slated for congratulating Viktor Orbán after election win' (09/04/18) on Wikipedia:The Guardian Later that month, a number of Jewish organisations called on the Conservative government to confront European political parties that had fuelled antisemitism, particularly those the Conservatives were affiliated in the Wikipedia:European Conservatives and Reformists group with, like Latvia's National Alliance, Poland's Wikipedia:Law and Justice Party, and Hungary's Wikipedia:Fidesz Party, with its leader Viktor Orbán. The organisations asked the Conservatives to withdraw their membership from the group until it is free of all racism, including antisemitism.Wikipedia:Independent Jewish Voices, Wikipedia:Jewish Voice for Labour, Jews for Peace for Palestine, and Wikipedia:Jewish Socialists' Group, 'Joint statement on Tory links to antisemitism in European politics (18/04/18) on Independent Jewish Voices In September 2018, British Jewish leaders condemned the Conservatives because, in a vote to remove Hungary's voting rights at the Wikipedia:European Council, the party defended Hungary's far-right Orbán government despite its 'vivid antisemitism'.J. Watts, 'Conservatives condemned by British Jewish leaders after MEPs vote to defend Hungary's far-right Orban government' (13/09/18) on Wikipedia:The Independent Hungary was accused of corruption, 'violating press freedoms, undermining judicial independence, and waging an antisemitic campaign against a leading Jewish businessman' (i.e., Wikipedia:George Soros). The Conservatives, who were the only governing conservative party in western Europe to vote against the move,J. Stone, 'Tories were only governing conservative party in western Europe to support Hungarian far-right in EU vote' (13/09/18) on Wikipedia:The Independent were accused by David Hirsch of 'cosying up to an antisemitic and racist strong-man regime', 'pandering to Jew-hate'.D. Sugarman, 'Michael Gove criticised for 'shameful' unwillingness to condemn 'antisemitic' Hungarian PM' (17/09/18) on Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle They were seen, including by one of their own politicians, of defending Orbán 'in a bid for backing in Brexit talks', of pretending not to recognise antisemitism 'in the hope of gaining some advantage in return'. According to Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle, the vote 'was truly shameful and a dark day for the party led by Mrs May'. Later that month, Orbán wrote to the Conservative Party thanking them for their support in the vote.M. Smith, 'Tory MEPs got a personal thankyou letter from far-right Hungarian leader Viktor Orban (24/09/18) on Wikipedia:Daily Mirror Labour Party Chairperson Wikipedia:Ian Lavery called on Theresa May to 'explain and apologise for her Party's behaviour'.A. Cowburn, 'Conservative MEPs receive letter from Hungary's far-right leader Orban thanking them for 'support' in EU vote' (24/09/18) on Wikipedia:The Independent After the vote, 'a series of high-profile Conservatives' refused to condemn the vote, which, according to an editorial in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle, was 'even worse' that the vote itself, adding that 'it is vital that antisemitism is called out — wherever it is found'.The JC Leader, 'Never an excuse...Inspirational' (20/09/18) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle One of the Conservatives who refused to condemn the vote and Orbán's antisemitism was Wikipedia:Michael Gove. When asked to condemn Orbán, Gove said he would not "go down that route, play that game". The following month, the Conservatives were condemned again by Jewish leaders because Conservative politicians continued to refuse to condemn Orbán. One of them was Brexit minister Wikipedia:Martin Callanan. The Jewish Chronicle said that this was occurring at the same time that the Conservatives were criticising Wikipedia:Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism in the Labour Party.L. Harpin, 'Conservatives face renewed criticism over failure to condemn Orbán (02/10/18) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle Appointment of Roger Scruton In November 2018, the Conservatives were condemned for appointing Wikipedia:Roger Scruton as chair of a new Housing and Architecture Committee because, in the words of Labour MP Wikipedia:Luciana Berger, he "pedalled antisemitic conspiracy theories" regarding Soros.D. Sugarman, 'Conservatives condemned for appointing academic accused of controversial statement about Jewish people' (06/11/18) on Wikipedia:The Jewish ChronicleD. Sabbagh, 'Sack Roger Scruton over Soros comments, demand Labour MPs' (06/11/18) on Wikipedia:The Guardian Labour MP Wikipedia:Wes Streeting expressed concerns over Scruton's links with Orbán. The government defended Scruton.L. Buchan, 'Theresa May urged to sack housing tsar Roger Scruton over 'Islamophobic and antisemitic comments'' (07/11/18) on Wikipedia:The Independent Scruton was sacked as Government adviser in April 2019 after a Wikipedia:New Statesman interview in which he repeated comments similar to those previously made.C. Chaplin, 'Sir Roger Scruton sacked as Government adviser over anti-Semitic and Islamophobic comments' (10 April 2019) the i Wikipedia:Dawn Butler, shadow women and equalities minister, said Scruton's language was that of 'white supremacists' and that he should have been sacked when he had made his comments previously. Suella Braverman's "Cultural Marxism" comments The Conservative MP Wikipedia:Suella Braverman came under fire in 2019 for saying her party was "engaged in a fight against Wikipedia:Cultural Marxism" supposedly being led by Jeremy Corbyn, with the phrase referring to a theory pushed by various Wikipedia:far-right voices that Western culture has supposedly been undermined by mostly Jewish students of the Wikipedia:Frankfurt School. When asked by journalist Wikipedia:Dawn Foster why she was "pushing a far-right term used by Wikipedia:Anders Breivik", Braverman said she was "only trying to prevent further attacks on 'British genius'". Jacob Rees-Mogg In March 2019, Rees-Mogg retweeted a speech by the leader of the far-right German political party Wikipedia:Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD marched with neo-Nazis the year before and had been condemned by members of the German Jewish community as "racist and antisemitic", "no party for Jews", and a "danger to Jewish life in Germany". Following criticism, Rees-Mogg defended his decision to promote the AfD leader's speech.L. Harpin, 'Jacob Rees-Mogg faces fury over 'disgraceful' promotion of 'antisemitic' German party (01/04/19) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle Local level Candidates In 2017 a Wikipedia:Birmingham Conservative council candidate left the Party after abusive tweets from 2013 and 2014 came to light; they included the mentioning of "foreign Jew agents".N. Elkes, 'Tory council candidate Obaid Khan axed over tweets about Jews' (10/04/17) on Wikipedia:Birmingham Live A few days before the 2018 local elections, three Conservative council candidates were revealed to have made antisemitic comments. The candidate for the Wikipedia:Fen Ditton and Wikipedia:Fulbourn ward, Cambridgeshire, had commented that he was "Sweating like a Jew in an attic".J. Hall, 'Tory candidate suspended over homophobic and antisemitic comments' (April 2018) on Wikipedia:indy 100 The candidate for Wikipedia:Stevenage Borough Council referred to the Jewish symbol the Wikipedia:Star of David as the "Wikipedia:Mark of the Beast".H. Clugson, 'Conservative council candidate suspended for saying gay people "should face the death penalty"' (25/04/18) on Hertfordshire Mercury The candidate for the Barnes ward of Wikipedia:Sunderland City Council wrote, "I can honestly say that this morning was the first time I've had to scrub off a Hitler tash with a toothbrush after a night out".A. Vernon-Powell & I. Holt, 'A Durham research assistant has been banned from running in local elections' (2018) in Wikipedia:The Tab''Harley Tamplin, 'Tory council candidate suspended over string of 'disgraceful' tweets' (26/04/18) on ''Metro They were all suspended.'George Stoakley suspended as Tory council candidate for anti-Semitic and homophobic posts' (26/04/18) on Wikipedia:Sky News After winning his seat, however, the candidate for Sunderland Council - Anthony Mullen - was reinstated. Antisemitism towards candidates In the spring of 2019, when on a parliamentary candidate short list for Hackney North & Stoke Newington and Hackney South & Shoreditch, Councillor Ben Seifert was told by a party member not to run because he is Jewish and "you can have too many Jews". Seifert left the Conservative party in September 2019.A. Phillips, 'Ex-Tory Greater London Authority candidate was told not to stand as an MP because he was Jewish' (28/10/19) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle Grassroots level Activists In March 2017, a Conservative activist tweeted that it was time for Europe-wide purge like the Wikipedia:Spanish Inquisition. This caused concern for Jews because the Inquisition 'consisted of a state-organised pogrom predominantly targeting Jews with torture and cruel murder, for example being burned at the stake. The Wikipedia:Alhambra Decree of 1492, commanded all Jews in Spain to convert to Wikipedia:Catholicism or leave the country'. The Welsh Conservative Party released a statement distancing themselves from the activist,S. Brennan, 'Welsh Tory Brexiteer condemned by party after he appears to call for return of religious persecution' (16/03/17) on North Wales Live but took no further steps.'Welsh Conservatives must discipline activist who appears to yearn for Spanish Inquisition across Europe (17/03/17) on Wikipedia:Campaign Against Antisemitism In November 2017 Wikipedia:Hope not Hate reported that Conservative Party activists were members of a Wikipedia:Facebook group called Young Right Society, which was 'awash with antisemitic, Holocaust denying and racist material'.'Facebook group frequented by young Conservative and UKIP activists reportedly a hotbed of antisemitism and far-right extremism (27/11/17) on Wikipedia:Campaign Against AntisemitismC. Prentice, 'EXPOSED: Breitbart writer's vile racist group' (23/11/17) on Wikipedia:Hope not Hate'Warwick student's leading role in Facebook hate group exposed' (27/11/17) on Wikipedia:The Boar One of the group's administrators, Jack Hadfield, was a member of the Warwick Conservative Association. Conservative Future Scotland's and Bruges Group's conspiracy theories The antisemitic conspiracy theory "Wikipedia:Cultural Marxism" was evident in the Conservative Party during 2018. In Scotland in July, the chairperson for the Wikipedia:youth wing of the Wikipedia:Scottish Conservatives, Wikipedia:Conservative Future Scotland, was accused of antisemitism after using the phrase. The Wikipedia:Scottish Green Party MSP Ross Greer wrote to Scottish Conservative leader Wikipedia:Ruth Davidson asking her to treat the issue seriously because, according to him, the 'conspiracy theory was quite literally created by the Nazis to demonise Jews as the enemy within'.C. Smith, 'Tory youth wing chairman caught up in new anti-Semitism row (30/07/18) on The Courier The idea of "Cultural Marxism" emerged again at the Conservative Party Conference in October. Copies of a booklet called Moralitis: A Cultural Virus, by Robert Oulds (director of the Bruges Group) and Niall McCrae, were available at a Bruges Group meeting. The booklet espoused right-wing conspiracy theories with antisemitic origins, including "Cultural Marxism" and the Great Replacement.S. Childs, 'The 'Deeply Worrying' Far-Right Booklets Distributed at Tory Conference' (03/10/18) on ''Vice'' Two Jewish organisations, the Wikipedia:Campaign Against Antisemitism and the Wikipedia:Jewish Council for Racial Equality, called for an investigation into the 'racist' booklet.S. Childs, 'Jewish Organisations Call for Investigation Into 'Racist' Booklet Available at Tory Conference' (07/10/18) on ''Vice'' University Conservative society At a Wikipedia:Plymouth University Conservatives party in October 2018, some society members were pictured, according to the Wikipedia:Daily Mirror, wearing clothing with homemade slogans on them, such as "Jude" (German for Jew) with a Wikipedia:Star of David, and wearing a Hitler-style moustache.A. Lines and A. Aspinall, 'Young Tories' night of shame: Students sport 'f*** the NHS' slogan, Hitler moustache and make dodgy hand gesture (03/10/18) on the Wikipedia:Daily Mirror Plymouth's Students' Union suspended the society pending an investigation; Wikipedia:Conservative Campaign Headquarters launched an investigation and said it would suspend any party members involved. Support for Turning Point UK In December 2018 a right-wing advocacy group, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), launched its British branch, Turning Point UK (TPUK). TPUK was founded by George Famer, son of Conservative peer Lord Famer and fiancée of TPUSA communications director Wikipedia:Candace Owens who, at the TPUSA conference, had come out in support of neo-Nazis. When asked about Wikipedia:nationalism during a Q&A session at the TPUK launch event, Wikipedia:Candace Owens said, 'If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine. The problem is that ... he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize ... that's not nationalism. ... I don't really have an issue with nationalism ... I think that it's OK'. Conservative MP Wikipedia:Andrew Rosindell attended the eventAlex Spence and Mark Di Stefano, 'Days After Its Disastrous British Launch, Turning Point Has Already Lost One Of Its Star Recruits' (08/02/19) on Wikipedia:BuzzFeed News and support for the organisation was given by a number of Conservative MPs: Wikipedia:Jacob Rees-Mogg, Wikipedia:Priti Patel, Steve Baker and Sir Wikipedia:Bernard Jenkin. Johnson leadership (2019-) Parliamentary level Jacob Rees-Mogg During a 3 September (2019) parliamentary debate on Wikipedia:Brexit, Wikipedia:Jacob Rees-Mogg called two Jewish Conservative MPs, including Wikipedia:Oliver Letwin,N. Broda, 'We need to talk about the Tories' antisemitism problem' (03/10/19) on Wikipedia:Jewish News members of the Wikipedia:Illuminati,N. Lampert, 'Brexit Chaos Now Threatens an Unprecedented Storm of anti-Semitism for British Jews' (17/09/19) on Wikipedia:Haaretz which, according Wikipedia:Michael Berkowitz, professor of Modern Jewish History, who commented on the incident, is one of the "most poisonous Wikipedia:antisemitic canards in all of history ... frequently used as justification for violence".M. Berkowitz, 'Jacob Rees-Mogg’s alarming cry of "Illuminati"' (05/09/19) on UCL Brexit Blog Wikipedia:Antony Lerman suggests that this is "dog-whistle antisemitism and at the same time a chase for votes to shamelessly exploit Jewish fears". Early the next month, Rees-Mogg was criticised for referred to Wikipedia:George Soros as 'the remoaner funder in chief' - this was seen by some as a perpetuation of an antisemitic conspiracy theory and was condemened by Lord Alf Dubs (who called for Rees-Mogg to be sacked) as a comment 'straight from the far right's antisemitic playbook'.M. Frot, 'Lord Alf Dubs calls for Jacob Rees-Mogg to be sacked over George Soros comment' (03/10/19) in Wikipedia:Jewish News Priti Patel During a speech at the 2019 Conservative Party conference, Wikipedia:Priti Patel spoke disparagingly of 'North London metropolitan Wikipedia:liberal elite', which was understood by some people as an antisemitic reference,I. Hardman, 'Priti Patel turns her back on Theresa May’s legacy at the Home Office' (01/10/19) on Wikipedia:The Spectator''M. Frot, 'JLM lambasts Priti Patel for 'North London metropolitan liberal elite' comment' (02/10/9) in Wikipedia:Jewish News 'the language of the far-right ... a worrying descent into dog-whistle antisemitic discourse'. Crispin Blunt In 2019, Wikipedia:Crispin Blunt MP accused the chief rabbi of Wikipedia:Manchester of demanding "special status" for Britain's Jews. Blunt was later rebuked by the Wikipedia:Jewish Leadership Council, which stated he should "clarify if he supports the concept of freedom of religion, a cornerstone of liberal democracy".Lee Harpin, 'Conservative MP accuses chief rabbi of demanding 'special status' for Britain's Jews' (02/10/19) in ''Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle Michael Gove Wikipedia:Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Wikipedia:Michael Gove MP, was urged to apologise for sharing an antisemitic tweet from a Twitter account falsely claiming to be run by a Labour member.Lizzy Buchan, 'Michael Gove urged to apologise for sharing antisemitic tweet falsely attributed to Labour member' (04/10/19) in Wikipedia:The Independent Wikipedia:Antony Lerman, writing for Wikipedia:Open Democracy, accused Gove of "dog-whistle antisemitism", attempting to chase votes and "shamelessly exploiting Jewish fears".Antony Lerman, 'The Tories are exploiting Jewish fears over antisemitism' (09/11/19) in Wikipedia:Open Democracy James Cleverly Along with Michael Gove, Wikipedia:Antony Lerman, writing for Wikipedia:Open Democracy, accuses Wikipedia:James Cleverly, Wikipedia:Chairman of the Conservative Party, of "dog-whistle antisemitism". Cleverly, in an interview with the Wikipedia:Sunday Telegraph, claimed that Jewish "individuals and groups, including entrepreneurs and other business figures" – people he had known "much of his life" would leave the country if Labour won the 2019 election.Antony Lerman, ''Who's behind the 'dark money' bankrolling our politics?' (09/11/2019) in Wikipedia:Open Democracy Sally-Ann Hart The newly elected member for Hastings, Sally-Ann Hart, is under investigation by the Conservative party for antisemtism (and Islamophobia). Hart "liked" a Nazi phrase on Facebook and "shared" an antisemitic slur.Kate Proctor and Rajeev Syal, ''Tories open second investigation into Hastings candidate' (11/12/2019) in Wikipedia:The Guardian Lee Anderson The newly elected member for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, is under investigation by the Conservative party for antisemtism. Anderson was an active member of a Facebook group where Soros conspiracies are promoted.Jack Mendel, ''Two Tories win seats despite investigations over antisemitism' (13/12/2019) in Wikipedia:Jewish News Special Advisers Dominic Cummings In the run up to the Wikipedia:2019 United Kingdom general election, Boris Johnson's adviser Wikipedia:Dominic Cummings said in a Wikipedia:blog post on his website that Labour would cheat in order to stop Wikipedia:Brexit and that they would be "supported by the likes of Goldman Sachs", for which some accused Cummings of employing an antisemitic dog-whistle.M. Greene, 'If Boris Johnson really cared about Jews, he'd stop using us to distract from his own bigotry' (31/11/19) on Wikipedia:The Independent''L. Staples, 'Dominic Cummings' latest blog post branded 'racist' and 'antisemitic'' (28/11/19) on ''Wikipedia:indy100''R. Lott-Lavigna, 'Five Questions About… Dominic Cummings' Deranged Election Blog' (28/11/19) on Wikipedia:Vice News Antisemitic events Nancy Astor statue In the third week of the Wikipedia:2019 United Kingdom general election, a number of Conservative MPs - including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister Theresa May, and Rebecca Smith, the Conservative candidate for Plymouth Sutton - attended the unveiling of a statue of former Conservative MP Nancy Astor, with May unveiling the statue. Journalist and activist Wikipedia:Ash Sarkar accused the Conservatives of "celebrating notorious anti-Semites", highlighting that Astor was "a Nazi sympathiser who speculated that Hitler could be the solution to the 'world problem' of Jews".E. Brazell, 'Theresa May under fire after unveiling statue of 'Nazi-sympathising' MP (29/11/19) in ''Metro Parliamentary candidates Ryan Houghton In 2019 Ryan Houghton, who was standing in the Aberdeen North constituency for the 2019 general election, was suspended for comments made seven years ago on social media. These comments related to Wikipedia:the Holocaust, homosexuality, and Islam. Houghton discussed freedom of speech and comments made by Holocaust denier David Irving.BBC NE Scotland, Orkney & Shetland, 'Tory candidate for Aberdeen North dropped over anti-Semitic comments' (18/11/2019) in Wikipedia:BBC News Houghton retained the Conservative candidacy for Aberdeen North after his suspension.A. Learmonth, 'Aberdeen Tory candidate Ryan Houghton's sick posts uncovered' (19/11/19) in The National Amjad Bashir Amjad Bashir, who was standing in the Leeds North East constituency for the 2019 general election, was suspended from the Conservative party after Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle reported on his claim that British Jews who visited Israel were returning as "brainwashed extremists". Bashir retained the Conservative candidacy for Leeds North East after his suspension.L. Harpin, 'Tories suspend election candidate after JC exposed his claim British Jews were 'brainwashed extremists' (20/11/19) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle Sally-Ann Hart, Lee Anderson and Richard Short Towards the end of the 2019 general election, the Conservatives faced calls to suspend three of its candidates for antisemitism. Candidate for the Hastings and Rye constituency, Sally-Ann Hart, liked a Nazi slogan on Wikipedia:Facebook and shared a video that implied Wikipedia:George Soros controlled the Wikipedia:European Union. Lee Anderson, the candidate for Ashfield, was found to be an active member of a Wikipedia:Facebook group called Ashfield backs Boris that also published conspiracy theories about Soros.A. Cowburn, 'General election: Boris Johnson facing calls to suspend three Tory candidates over antisemitism allegations' (07/12/19) on Wikipedia:The Independent Richard Short, candidate for St Helens South and Whiston, questioned on Wikipedia:Twitter whether journalist Wikipedia:Melanie Phillips, who appeared on Question Time, was being more loyal to Israel or Britain.K. Proctor, 'Tories investigate three candidates over alleged antisemitism' (07/12/19) on Wikipedia:The Guardian Local level Councillor Dexter Smith In July 2019, Dexter Smith, councillor for the Wikipedia:Colnbrook with Poyle parish in Wikipedia:Slough, stood by his remark that Jews are 'renowned business people'.D. Lee, 'Slough Tory councillor defends remarks that 'Jews are renowned business people'' (25/07/19) in Slough and South Bucks Express Councillor Mohammad Aslam Mohammad Aslam, councillor for the Bradley ward in Pendle, shared a post saying the “Gaza massacre is the price of a Jewish state”. He further claimed in an article that that then Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth. was “funded by the Israel lobby”. Another post Cllr Aslam shared - now deleted - included the image of a bloodied child and a description of the Israeli government's actions as “Radical Jewish Terrorism”.Aleks Phillips, ''Tories investigate councillor who shared Facebook posts, including claim Jewish MP was 'funded by Israel lobby'' (20/12/2019) in Wikipedia:The Jewish Chronicle See also * Wikipedia:Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party * Wikipedia:Antisemitism in the United Kingdom * Wikipedia:Racism in the UK Conservative Party * Wikipedia:Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party Notes References Category:Antisemitism in the United Kingdom Category:Conservative Party (UK) Category:Right-wing antisemitism Category:Racism in the United Kingdom Category:Right-wing politics Category:Right-wing political parties